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100

Slant Magazine

Both on a song-for-song basis and as singular cohesive work, Emerald City demonstrates Vanderslice's masterful control of craft at every structural level and his unrivaled ability to make the political personal.

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Entertainment Weekly

John Vanderslice's sixth full-length, Emerald City, doesn't disappoint.

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PopMatters

The entirety of Emerald City seeks to elevate to the personal and the timeless, and top to bottom it is a success.

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All Music Guide

The production is still huge and full, although audiophiles may be disturbed by the overdriven acoustic guitars on certain songs that give an unnerving sensation of blown speaker cones. It's a forgivable stylistic decision, and doesn't detract much from the overall solidarity of the disc.

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Billboard

The air of uncertainty and doubt he creates is what continually makes his music so intriguing.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

Throughout Emerald City, Vanderslice uses his celebrated producing talent to control feedback and mold it into an instrument as vital as the guitar and piano that are so central to his music.

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Under The Radar

Emerald City finds Vanderslice further along his yellow brick road to occupying a truely unique place in indie rock. [Summer 2007, p.77]

Spin

Emerald City may be his most unsettling work yet. [Aug 2007, p. 110]

Stylus Magazine

The album, like most of Vanderslice’s albums, meanders along like a pleasant afternoon: it is all fair weather and blithe breezes, fairly consistent in both tone and tempo.

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Filter

when given the space, the music is alternately compelling and peaceful; unfortunately, the words get in the way.

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Paste Magazine

Emerald City is vividly imagined yet subtle in tone, with conflicted character sketches unfolding around somber synth melodies, creaky electronic effects, and fuzzy acoustic guitar strums.

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cokemachineglow

The problem is that Vanderslice’s lyrical scope remains too broad to enable a cohesive or definitive conceptual statement, and his music too tightly defined and predictable to be considered a departure.

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Pitchfork

While Vanderslice's observations and commentary sounded fresh and fierce two years ago, the same essential message run through similarly sounding songs this time around rings hollow.

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Q Magazine

His sixth album has a political slant, but the message is subtler than his controversial 2000 ditty, 'Bill Gates Must Die.'

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kevin C. gave it a10:
Pitchfork got it way wrong this time. David Raposa sounds like high school reviewer who just discovered you can look up lyrics on Google. Even if he's right about the lyrical content, it's beside the point. Furthermore, if Vanderslice IS still stuck on 9/11, why is that a fault? If Raposa was not as affected, then just admit that up-front and get a less biased reviewer. All that to say, give this disc a shot. Play it through a few times. Emerald City is easily one of the best albums of the year.

Allan C. gave it a10:
Great sound and loved it from top to bottom.

Mark G gave it a9:
Great record.

b'lis gave it an8:
If I had to pick between this & Pixel Revolt, I'd take the latter...this is not quite up to his best, but it's very, very good. F*ck, can this guy write a song!

Marvin S gave it a9:
Vanderslice is among the most underated artists working today. Although this is not his best work (check out the life and death of a four tracker for that), it does not disappoint by any means either.

tay z gave it a9:
Vanderslice a fraud? Part of the indie "minor leagues"? What the heck is Colin talking about? I mean, he's certainly not as adventurous as some artists, but that's not why I listen to his work. There are other people I count on for that part of my musical diet, but JV creates some absolutely beautiful music that certainly belongs in the list Colin put forth, if you ask me. It's anyone's right not to like this stuff, but to act so portentous as to decide which music "matters" and which does not is simply ridiculous. Vanderslice doesn't get enough credit by my count.

christian p. gave it an8:
Concise and solid. The only thing lacking is the immediate accessibility of some of JV's earlier work. It's surprising he doesn't get more attention for his songwriting, let alone his work as a producer.

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